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Clarkson, Hammond and May stage 'victory parade' in Italy

Clarkson arranges 'victory parade' to celebrate Chris Evan's failure

James May says he is ‘chuffed’ Top Gear flop Chris Evans was forced to quit after just two disastrous months in charge.

Asked for his reaction that rival Evans' catastrophic spell as host of the once popular BBC show was over, May appeared to joke he is 'very chuffed'.

The former Top Gear presenter's controversial comments came this afternoon as he Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond all roared into in Vicenza's main square in northern Italy to film their new Amazon show, 'Grand Tour'.

When Clarkson, at the wheel of an orange Aston Martin, was asked whether he had a message for Evans, he said, ‘don’t be stupid’, and tried to grab the camera.

The trio were mobbed as they drove into the city's Piazza Dei Signori. Clarkson had invited fans to join them when the day before when he tweeted: 'People of Italy James Richard and I will be filming in the Piazza Dei Signori in Vicenza tomorrow at 3pm. Come along'.

Crew working on their show claim Clarkson intentionally staged the scenes of chaos in the stunning piazza as ‘a two fingers up’ 's way of giving 'two fingers' to his TV rival Evans.

One-series Top Gear presenter Chris Evans, who has quit the show.

‘Jeremy’s been trying to keep quiet about it, but he’s pleased as punch,’ one unnamed cameraman said.

‘He’s kept his mouth shut about Evans the whole time, and now Evans has hung himself by his own rope without Jeremy getting involved.

‘It’s ironic because Evans was a massive Top Gear fan, but he’s ruined it for himself by taking the top job job on the show.’

The cameraman spoke as thousands of adoring fans mobbed the trio as they drove supercars slowly through the ancient Piazza Dei Signori in the centre of Vicenza, northern Italy.

The cameraman told MailOnline that Clarkson revelled in the crowds - adding: 'Jeremy intentionally created this mob by sending a tweet out,’ he said.

‘It’s the sort of thing Chris Evans has done in the past. It’s competitive tweeting, basically. It’s all just a big ego trip.

‘Jeremy’s really getting off on having this mob here. The irony is that Jeremy actually hates the general public.’

Another crew member added that the filming in the Piazza Dei Signori was a ‘victory lap’ to celebrate Evans’ fall from grace.

Thousands of young Italians gathered in the piazza from 3pm, but the former Top Gear presenters did not arrive until more than an hour later.

Most of the fans were young men, but there was a significant number of teenage girls and young women in the crowd. Many of them had simply come to witness the spectacle, but some declared their love for Clarkson.

‘Jeremy Clarkson is definitely the sexist of the three,’ quipped one female fan.

Elizabeth Theuer added he is her favourite because: 'He doesn’t care about how he looks and he doesn’t care what people think,’ she said. ‘The new Top Gear is no good. Chris Evans didn’t fit with the show and he was trying too hard. I didn’t like him. Clarkson has the sex appeal.’

The name of the programme is a reference to 'The Grand Tour' undertaken by 17th Century Englishmen such as Lord Byron when they visited France, Italy and the rest of Europe in search of cultural edification and personal enlightenment.

Its initials will be GT, an inversion of the TG nickname given to Top Gear, highlighting the rivalry that has grown since Clarkson was dumped by the BBC.

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